


Phantasmata

by water_bby



Series: Altered States [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 18:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12588148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/water_bby/pseuds/water_bby
Summary: Their host seems like a nice man, but his house is very strange.





	Phantasmata

> "One of these classes is made up of beings called ‘phantasmata.’ These ghost-like beings are ‘nocturnal spirits’ having reasoning capacities similar to those of man.... There are a great many kinds of such spirits, good as well as evil ones, and they love to be near man. In this they are comparable to dogs, who are also fond of the company of men." Paracelsus, _Herbarius Theophrasti: De Corallis_

"I say we just kill them all and head home," the bandit said, but another voice sounded from behind them. 

"Oh, hello. I think it's about to rain more heavily, and the dogs get cranky when they're out in a storm. Would you all like to come in?" The speaker was a young man, face marred by a scar running across his nose. Two dogs, one with long ears and the other apparently recovering from a mauling, if the bandages that wrapped it were any indication, leaned against his legs. "We don't often have visitors, but we can provide a roof and a fire while we wait for the rain to stop. It shouldn't take more than a day or two."

The bandit smiled. "Sure. You lot, get inside."

No one, bandit, merchant, or genin, commented that they had not seen a building before the scarred man appeared. No one paid any attention to the bit of blood that stained the dogs' muzzles.

The building had not looked large from the outside, but now that they were inside and the outer door had been shut against the suddenly pounding rain, they could see doors leading from the entry hall in various directions, a small fountain, and a life-sized statue of a man in a full-faced mask and armor.

The scarred man smiled at them. "So, food, fire, or baths, first?" When one of the younger merchants muttered about a bath while the bandits chose food, their host's smile grew. "This way to the dining hall," he pointed out, and then detached the merchant who had asked for a bath from the rest of the group. "Guruko will show you the way to the bath," he said, nodding at the smaller of the dogs. "Stay with him," he said to the dog, and then he was gone with the larger group, leaving only the single dog and the nervous merchant, who didn't move until the dog knocked against him and began herding him down another corridor.

When the entry hall was empty, water began running in the door and more dogs filled the room, splashing in the water sheeted across the floor until their master stretched, stony skin slowly warming to pale flesh. "Report," he said, and they crowded around him, telling him about the group that had disappeared down the passage toward the dining hall. The dogs' master smiled. He might be land-bound, but if bandits chose to come to him, he would make the most of the opportunity.

"Boss, there's a couple of Kumo genin," said the deep voice of the smallest dog.

"Ah, well, I suppose the sensei will want first pick, then," their master answered.

"He's already let us have four," another of the dogs replied. "I don't think he's feeling territorial."

Their master laughed. Of course his partner was feeling territorial, otherwise the rain would not be storming down outside. He pointed down the corridor where the large group had disappeared. "Shall we?"

The bandit leader had not been pleased to lose one of the merchants, but he didn't want to challenge their host yet, so he said nothing, only nodding at one of the other bandits to fall back to follow the missing merchant. Neither one noticed the eyes of their host following the movement, nor the expression that resembled nothing so much as a smirk on the face on the remaining dog.

Within seconds of the lone bandit returning to the entry hall, he was dead, his throat ripped out by a marble clawed hand. The body was dumped into a decorative pool as the pack continued on its way, their master ambling along with the ease of a man in his own house through corridors that shifted contours as they passed.

By the time the visitors had eaten (the bandits with more enthusiasm than the merchants), everyone was a bit calmer. The oldest of the merchants hesitantly suggested that perhaps they could all take a bath now, which their host eagerly affirmed. In a few minutes, the remaining merchants, four of the bandits, and the second dog were on their way through yet another door. ("Oh, you don't have to backtrack; this way will be faster," their host had exclaimed when a merchant pointed out that the door seemed to lead in the opposite direction than the passage to the baths from the entry hall.)

The merchant elder did feel a bit guilty about leaving their host and the young ninja with the remaining bandits, but he would have sworn that a voice had growled, "Just move, Iruka-sensei will take care of them once your lot is safe," from the direction of the dog.

The corridor seemed far longer than made sense from what little he had seen of the house so far, but the dog had confidently trotted around corridors and fountains and small pools laid into the floor. In fact, the merchant realized, he hadn't seen a single room that didn't have water in it.

And then they turned another corner and saw a body floating in one of the small pools. Unlike the bodies in the outside pools, this one was intact, save for its throat. The water was a clear blue, as if no blood remained to stain it. The merchants huddled together again, sure that their captors would punish someone for this death, when a voice came from the darkness behind the pool.

"Ah, Boss, can't Guruku and I join the fun?"

It was the voice from before, and it had come from the dog!

"Hurry back, then," a voice replied, and a man, a ninja from his clothes, removed himself from the shadows. From behind him, more dogs poured into the room.

A bandit threw a knife at the man, who simply raised an arm and snatched it from air before dropping it into the pool. "How polite of you, to provide a host-gift for Iruka," the man said with a smile. And then the merchants and their canine guide turned another corner and all they could hear were growls and shouts.

The dog thumped on the door at the end of the corridor, and it swung open to reveal a large bathing room, divided so a person could have as much privacy as desired and with many soaking pools gently steaming. Their missing companion looked up at them, startled from what was obviously a comfortable half-doze. The moment the last merchant entered the room, both dogs shot back down the corridor and the door swung shut as the bandits' shouts turned to screams.

The genin had watched the merchants leave, and as the last of them left the dining room, they met one another's eyes. They needed to find a way to disable the three bandits left in this room before the bandits killed everyone, including their host.

The bandit leader, meanwhile, was weighing what value this building might have as a good hiding place, if they could eliminate whatever had killed the men in the pools. Or maybe they could just put in bridges, and use the pools as a moat. "Are you the only one here?" he demanded, wondering how many others they would need to subdue.

"Oh, no. My partner is around as well. And his ninken." Their host spoke carelessly while he knelt by a small pool near the fireplace. When he straightened, he was holding a knife that he had apparently pulled from the pool.

"Wha--? 

The bandit leader had barely noticed the knife in the other man's hand before the blade was buried in the throat of another bandit and their host was launching himself straight at the third.

The moment they saw the knife fly from their host's hand, the genin flung themselves at the bandit leader, who was still sitting at the table. They would worry later about how a ninja came to be living in this place. They did know there had been no rumors of missing nin in the area. Her broken arm meant she couldn't do much more than use her own weight and momentum to help hold the bandit down, while his injuries made even that difficult. But get the man to the ground, they did.

"Oh, good teamwork, there. Adjusting for injuries, I assume?" their host asked as he set a foot on the bandit leader's throat, blood dripping from the knife he had retrieved from the first bandit's body. "So, do we kill him, or shall we let Kakashi handle that?"

The girl watched their host carefully. He was showing no signs of exertion even after killing two men, and the knife in his hand looked suspiciously like that belonging to one of the bandits who had followed the merchants.

"I'm Iruka, by the way. I promise that I'm not missing nin. Well, at least not as the term is usually used."

The boy adjusted his position on the bandit's legs uneasily. "So you're retired?"

"Again, not as the term is usually used." Iruka leaned harder on the bandit for a moment until the man once again stilled. "Kakashi ran into something he couldn't handle by himself, and when I came to rescue him, we were stuck. Isn't that right?" he added in a slightly louder voice as the door to the room swung open, admitting a pack of dogs and another man, one wearing old-fashioned Konoha armor and clawed gloves, with an ANBU tattoo plain to see on his exposed arm.

"Whatever you say, Iruka-sensei. So, kids, do you have something planned for the guy you're sitting on, or can Uuhei and Guruko get a chance for another hunt?"

The bandit surged up against Iruka's foot and the genin. He managed to knock the boy into the girl's broken arm, causing a short cry of pain from both of them, and, when Iruka took a step away from him to check on them, he flung himself out the door that led to the entrance.

"Well," Kakashi said, "I suppose that's his answer. Uuhei, Guruko, you get a short head start before the others will be along. Iruka-sensei, can they have a nice complicated maze? Ah, thank you."

He watched Iruka start to bind the broken arm as his pack left in pairs. "Can we have your names?" When the genin just looked back at him with blank faces, he shrugged. "Kids, then. So, kids, do you think you'll be able to get the remains of this group either to their destination or back to Cloud by yourselves?"

"Not for another couple days," Iruka said as he finished applying a splint and then the simple bone-knitting jutsu taught to every first-year Academy teacher. "They need a good rest before they have any business back on the road."

"But, sensei," Kakashi whined, grinning at the genin, "how else are they supposed to learn to persevere through injury and trial?"

"When they have a jounin-sensei to back them up. Since they don't, I'm making the call." There was a pause as Kakashi opened his mouth. "You don't count," Iruka said, before turning to the genin. "I assume you'll want to stay with your charges. There are bedrooms and another dining area near the baths. Let me finish the first aid and I'll take you there."

The genin nodded, avoiding passing too near to Kakashi as they followed Iruka out the door, through the kitchen, through another dining room, and then down a long hall with bedrooms on either side. Iruka knocked on a door at the end, before opening it to reveal the bathing area and all the remaining merchants.

"Rest well, all of you," Iruka said. "If there's anything you need, please just say so." He bowed deeply and left. Sayuri kept an eye on him as he moved down the hall, until he stepped into one of the ubiquitous water features and sank out of sight.

The girl swallowed hard as she retreated into the bathing room. Her teammate was at her side in a moment.

"What's wrong?" he whispered.

"Remember my sister had that party last year, when the Chuunin Exams were in Kumo?"

He nodded. Her sister had been a candidate, and she'd gotten on well with candidates from many of the other Villages. The younger genin had all been a bit jealous that she had gotten to attend a party with the candidates just by living in the same house.

"Remember my telling you about the ghost story one of the Konoha candidates told?"

"The one about the Konoha nin who disappeared between Fire and Lightning? The whole, 'If you ever need help, find their ghosts' one?"

"Except the story doesn't say ghosts, precisely. It says that they weren't quite human any more. What if they became demons? That Kakashi guy. The tattoo. That's old Konoha ANBU ink. And I just saw Iruka melt into a fountain. He stepped in and then...melted, or turned to water, or something!"

"Really, Sayuri," her teammate sighed, "I know that they're kind of creepy, and we need to keep our guard up, but they're not supernatural, just shinobi. Now get some rest, and I'll take first watch."

She frowned in return, but didn't argue. It wasn't like he was wrong, everything she'd seen could just be the result of jutsu, but the weird shifting contours of the building didn't feel like genjutsu, and she was very, very good at telling when genjutsu was used on her.

Three days later, Iruka stood beside her as she watched the merchants follow her teammate back up the trail. "The offer is open to all genin, not just Konoha's," he said, never looking away from the trail. "You can tell this story at your own Chuunin Exams, Sayuri of Kumo." He then smiled at her and turned to walk back across the pools to the front door. Only his feet never sank into any of the pools, until he reached the last one, where his entire body sank below the surface, leaving nothing behind but a beautiful meadow, surrounded by trees, dotted by pools, and no sign of a building.


End file.
